Luggage carrier



July l8, 1939.- B. A. OTTEN 2,166,262

LUGGAGE CARRIER Filed Nov. 18, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS July 18, 1939.

B. A. OTTEN LUGGAGE CARRIER Filed Nov. 18, 1935 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 [NVENTOQ 2,2 4. m WM' M ATTORNEY Patented July 18, 1939 PATENT OFFICE LUGGAGE CARRIER Benjamin A. Otten, Wauwatosa, Wis., assignor to Milwaukee Stamping Company, West Allis, Wis., a corporation of Wisconsin Application November 18, 1935, Serial No. 50,347

1 Claim.

My invention relates to improvements in luggage carriers.

The object of my invention is to provide a luggage carrier with a folding garment supporting rack having one or more hanger rods normally locked to the rack, but releasable by manual pressure exerted upon the end of the rod, said rack being foldable into either the body or the cover of the luggage carrier and being adapted for engagement with the body portion in such a manner as to support the cover in its raised position.

Also, to provide means, associated with the cover, for automatically engaging and locking the rack in its folded position therein.

Also, to provide means whereby a portion of the rack may be locked to the body in a cover supporting position and another portion extended to support hanger rods in a raised position at the opposite side of the body from that to which the cover is hinged.

A further object is to provide a luggage carrier with a simple, inexpensive, and highly efficient folding garment rack from which the clothing will not be accidentally released when adjusting the rack to various positions or while the carrier is being transported.

In the drawings:

- Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved luggage carrier with the cover held in the open position by the garment rack, the latter being shown by full lines as it appears when the cover is initially raised, and by dotted lines in a secondary position, with the hanger carriage raised above the margin of the body opposite that to which the cover is hinged.

. Figure 2 is a perspective view of one of the body brackets, showing an associated fragment ofthe side wall of the body.

Figure 3 is a perspective view of a rack engaging lock employ-ed for holding the rack in a folded position within the cover, a fragment of the cover being illustrated.

Figure 4 is a detail view, partly in section, showing one of the hanger rods and its locking device in association with a pair of inside side bars of therack, with secondary illustrations of the end bars of the hanger carriage.

Figure 5 is-a fragmentary view of a luggage carrier cover showing a modified form of rack engaging lock.

Figure 6 is a sectional View drawn to line 6-4:

of Figure Like parts are identified by the same reference characters throughout the several views.

My improved rack comprises a set of main side bars [0, the inner ends of which are provided with pivot studs II adapted to engage in suitable sockets or apertures [2 formed in a set of cover brackets 13, which are secured to the side walls of the cover adjacent to the axis of the hinge connections between the cover and body, one of which is illustrated at [4. Folding extension side bars I! are hinged to the main side bars at IB and are adapted to be folded along the main side bars, as shown by full lines in Figure 1, or adjusted to the raised position indicated by dotted lines in said figure, in which last position they will have been swung to a display position a little beyond a plane perpendicular to the body, which includes the pivot pins l8. In the display position the secondary side bars will be supported by stops 2| engageable with main side bars l0.

Each of the main side bars is provided, intermediate of its ends, but preferably near the outer end, with a projection or stud 23 to be received in a suitable notch 24 (Figure 2), in a bracket 25, which is secured to the inner face of the side wall of the body, as clearly shown in Figure By their engagement in the notches 24 the projections 23 cooperate with the pivot pins l2 to hold the cover 26 in a raised position independently of the folding braces 21, 21, although preferably the brace 21' carries an end lip at 28 to engage the brace 21 and serve as a stop to prevent these braces from swinging to a position of alignment with each other.

The stop 28 may be positioned for cooperation with the outside or main rack bars ill in retaining the cover in a nearly vertical position.

In the ordinary luggage carrier similar folding braces have been employed for many years, but unless they are allowed to swing to a position of alignment with each other they do not prevent the cover from dropping to a closed position, if it should accident-ally be pushed across a vertical plane through its hinge axis l4. My improved rack makes it possible to have the cover supported in a vertical position, or with only a slight rearward inclination, without danger of an accidental swinging of the cover to a closed position.

When the cover is open and the inside or extension side bars I! are in the raised or dotted line position, in which they are shown in Figure 1, the hanger bars or rods 30 may be individually or selectively removed from the end bars of the carriage.

To facilitate removal and replacement of hanger rods or bars 3!], one side bar 33 of the carriage is provided with apertures 34 to receive fixed axial studs or reduced end pieces 35 on the respective rods.

The other endof each rod 30 is axially socketed, and a plunger 31 is seated in the socket against a compression spring 38. At its outer end the socket bore is enlarged, as indicated at 39, to receive a flange 40 carried by the intermediate portion of the plunger, the plunger being held in the socket by an end cap 4| through which the outer end of the plunger projects.

The outer end of each plunger is provided with a reduced extension 42 having a head or thumb piece 43, whereby the plunger may be pushed inwardly in the rod socket from its normal extended position. The inward movement is limited by the depth of the enlarged bore 39. The plunger receiving side bar 45 of the carriage is provided with key-hole slots, the narrow portions 46 of which are of insufficient width to receive the plunger 3"! but of sufficient width to allow the reduced extension 42 to pass through it. The inner end portions 41 of the key-hole slots are of sufiicient diameter to receive the outer end of a registering plunger, and when the plunger is so received its associated rod 36 will be securely held to the carriage subject to instant release by pressing inwardly upon the thumb piece 43 until the extension 42 can be swung laterally through the portion 46 of the key-hole slot. With this arrangement, any one of the rods and a garment draped thereon, may be quickly removed from the carriage. It may be unlocked by the thumb of the same hand which grasps the rod for the purpose of such removal.

Preparatory to closing the luggage carrier the secondary side bars will be swung downwardly from the dotted line position in Figure 1 to the full line position, after which the rack may be swung upon its pivot pins |2 to a raised position within the cover 26. Thereupon the studs 23 on the main side bars will engage the cam-shaped faces 56 of a set of pivoted resiliently yielding latch hooks supported from the side walls of the cover by brackets 53.

The latches will be lifted by the pressure of the studs 23 upon the outer or cam-shaped faces of the latch hooks, and after passing the hooks the latches will be automatically swung to locking position by their actuating springs 54. These latches will preferably be connected by pivot pins 55 with the brackets 53, as best shown in Figure 3.

The folding rack is thus locked within the cover 26 with the hanger rods or bars 30 near the hinged margin of the cover and in close proximity to the axial line of the pivot studs l2. The garments carried by these rods may be draped over the connecting cross bars 58 and 59 of the main and extension side bars of the rack.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent that I have devised a hanger rod carriage having'a plurality of hanger rods securely locked thereto, although each can be instantly released and removed by a manual pressure exerted upon the thumb piece 43 of any selected rod accompanied by a lateral pressure when the reduced extension 42 is in registry with the key-hole slot. This makes it possible to swing the rack and the clothing draped over such rods into a folded position within the cover while the cover is raised, since there is no possibility of the rods becoming released or of their dropping by gravity out of the carriage.

Therefore, the rack may be virtually thrown into the cover with suflicient force to lift and pass the latch hooks of the latches 5| until the studs 23 may be automatically engaged and locked to the cover. Stop 56 limits the downward movement of hooks 50 by engagement with the rear margin of bracket 53.

Also, when the cover is raised, the latches 5| may be lifted to release the rack, whereupon it can be swung downwardly until the studs 23 engage in the notches 24 of the brackets 25 on the side walls of the body. Thereupon the cover is locked in the raised position and the garments supported by the hanger rods may be lifted to a raised position at the opposite side of the body from that occupied by the cover and securely supported in that position by means of the brackets 25 in cooperation with the stops 2| and the pivot studs l2. The facility with which garments may be removed and replaced will be apparent from this description of operation, taken in connection with the fact that each hanger rod is made quickly detachable with the aid of the spring actuated plungers 31 and their reduced extension 42. The entire rack is also quickly detachable, the pivoted inner ends having sufficient resilience to allow them to be sprung inwardly until the pivot studs I2 are withdrawn from the brackets IS. The distance of the cross bars 59 from the pivot studs i2 is such that any ordinary steel side bar adapted to serve the purposes of the side bar IE] will have the required resiliency to normally maintain the pivotal engagement with the brackets 3 while allowing the withdrawal of the pivot studs under manual pressure.

My invention makes it unnecessary for the operator to grasp the stays 26 or 21 in order to push them to a folding position when closing the cover upon the body. Heretofore injuries have resulted from the folding of these stays upon portions of the hand or finger of the operator, whereas my improved invention not only makes it unnecessary to grasp these stays, but, if desired, the stays may be wholly omitted, since the rack may be relied upon to hold the cover in the open position.

In Figures 5 and 6 I have illustrated a modification of the latch or locking mechanism associated with the cover. Corner brackets 53a provided with flanges 6G and 6|, are fitted to the upper corners of the cover and adapted to serve as corner braces. A rod 62 connects these brackets and has reduced end portions journaled in the flanges 6|, as indicated at 63. Hooks 50a have their extremities up-turned and are supported from the rod 62 by inclined shanks 5|a extending downwardly and forwardly from the rod 62. At one end of the rod a spring 65 is coiled thereon with one extremity socketed in the flange 6|, and the other extremity engaged wit-h the hook shank 5|a at 64 in a manner to urge the hook upwardly to the normal rack engaging position illustrated in Figure 6.

A portion of the flange 6| may be struck up at 61 to serve as a stop which limits the projection of the hook under the urge of the spring. Both hooks being fast on the same pivot rod 62, one stop 6'! and one spring 65 will be sufficient to maintain the hooks in operative position.

I claim:

A luggage carrier cover having hinges connected with one margin and an oscillatory rod mounted within the cover adjacent the opposing margin, in combination with a set of latch hooks secured to said rod, and resilient yielding means for normally holding said latch hooks in a rack engaging position.

BENJAMIN A. OTTEN. 

